© Reuters. Gold gains ground on softer dollar as focus remains on Greece
Investing.com - Gold prices edged higher in European morning hours on Friday, as demand for the dollar weakened after Thursday's downbeat U.S. jobless claims data and as hopes for a solution to the Greek debt crisis dampened demand for the greenback.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery were up 0.10% at $1,160.40.
The August contract ended Thursday's session 0.37% lower at $1,159.20 an ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,145.90, Wednesday's low and a four-month low and resistance at $1,166.90, Thursday's high.
The dollar weakened after data on Thursday showed that U.S. jobless claims rose to their highest level since February last week.
The Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 4 increased by 15,000 to 297,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.31% at 96.36 in early European trading.
Elsewhere, Greece offered to make painful spending cuts and hike taxes late Thursday, in a last-ditch request to win one more bailout from Europe before the country descends into bankruptcy.
Athens was seeking at least €50 billion over the next three years. In exchange, the government presented a number of austerity measures that were said to total between €12 billion and €13 billion - significantly more than Greece’s previous commitments.
The move brought Greece one step closer to a deal with its European creditors, who plan to make a final decision Sunday about whether to grant the country additional emergency loans.
In the meantime, the Greek government extended bank closures and the €60 daily limit on cash machine withdrawals until Monday.
Elsewhere in metals trading, silver futures for September delivery edged up 0.11% to $15.378 a troy ounce, while copper futures for September delivery dropped 0.78% to $2.531 a pound.
The Shanghai Composite rallied over 4% on Friday after authorities increased scrutiny of short selling and eased rules for insurers to invest in blue-chips stocks in wake of China’s recent stock plunge.
Equity markets in China have lost more than 30% over the past three weeks, roiling global financial markets.
Market players are concerned that the plunge in the stock market could spread to other parts of the Chinese economy, triggering fears that the Asian nation's demand for the industrial metal will decline.
China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.